Amnesty International has Faith in Obama
ByIf you have faith…
Amnesty International released the above video on Inauguration Day 2009.
The text in the ad reads:
Day 1: Global Economy Fixed
Day 20: Global Warming Reversed
Day 83: World Peace Established
Day 94: Meteor Defense Shield Created
Day 100: A walk in the park
The message goes on the say that “we don’t expect the impossible in his first one-hundred days in office, but Barack Obama has said that he would close Guantanamo and end torture.”
Going to the site tied to this campaign, obama100days.org, you see a checklist of things Amnesty deems possible and hopes Obama will be able to complete during his first one-hundred days in office.
I thought this was interesting, especially in relation to the post below about the Bank of Obama. It shows how different organizations and individuals are dealing with these tough times and how all eyes are turned on President Obama. Obviously, as this video was created by Amnesty International and the Bank of Obama by three young guys in Austin, TX, it is comparing apples to oranges. However, although their methods are extremely different, I do feel both are intended to make those who come into contact with them feel better about the current world state. One does this through humor and the other through a more serious tone that carries the message of keeping faith and inspiring action to be taken where possible. In my opinion, the virtues promoted in the Amnesty International ad, Inspiration, Hope, and Making a Difference, are what distinguishes it as “virtuous” advertising.
2 Comments
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I agree with the final bolded statement made, however I fear that any messages made by a party not affiliated with an administration could, in turn hurt them. Even positive ones could possibly build false hope or not align with the administration’s agenda. I definitely understand the exaggeration here however I could definitely see ads like this categorically feared by President Obama & his team because of their lack of control over the messages. I do find it inspiring though how many people and organizations are currently rallying around a political movement which is something this country hasn’t seen in a long time.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I think that it is ironic that they made this ad but we are now in so much more debt and our economy has only further declined since he took office. I think this ad does carry virtues but I think that the political undertone is extreme and takes away from the ad for those that tend to lean conservative. The commercial basically put Obama in a spot that said, “This man is going to change everything and government is going to fix it all in 100 days.” Some may call this socialism. Regardless, I think that the advertisement was a bit absurd, especially since most scientist are coming back out saying global warming is a crock, but this is definitely a political message aimed directly at left wing citizens excluding 50% of the country taking away the virtues in my opinion.